Paul,
nice thread and good information. thanks a lot. Hopefully it will help with my planned conversion.
As to your request for a fan driven generator to charge the pack while driving...working on it. I have seen a couple designs for this (patents exist) but seem cumbersome and are singular installs.
my planned conversion is:
93 Plymouth Acclaim - front wheel drive
Automatic transmission
your wonderful controller
6 - 24v or 12 - 12v AGM Batteries (144v system)
Motor in the 36/48v range between 100 and 200lbs
currently vehicle is ~2800lbs curb weight. After conversion I would like it to be 2400lbs, but more realistic it will be the same.
Do not know if the automatic transmission is feasible or if I should just yank everything an swap to direct drive on the transaxle- decisions, decisions.
25 or even 50 miles before a recharge is required does not make sense. So a charging system is required. I do not like the gas powered gen idea, it defeats the purpose of the EV, and a hand cranked gen is not good enough. That leaves me with a RAT (Ram Air Turbine) gen. Perhaps we can assist each other.
Basic requirements/ limitations:
1 Charging system does not activate until vehicle is at 25mph
2 Ducting has to be flexible/modifiable for multiple EV installs
3 Charge system output must be greater than motor draw @ selected speeds above 25mph
4 Easily maintainable, easily obtainable parts
5 Supply cooling air to the motor and batts at all speeds above 5mph
That was just off the top of my head, and incomplete to boot. So the questions I have are these: What is the motor drawing at 40mph? Which is more important voltage or current? In your Super Beetle how much room do you have for a ram-air system? Is there still room in the engine compartment or would it have to go into the back seat? Trunk perhaps?
Cost is going to be an issue, but not insurmountable. And I am prototyping already so with more data from you and the others on the list here I think I can get a product from conception to home-shop production fairly quickly. That is, at least, my hope.
keep up the excellent work and thank you.